Archive for September, 2011

Pusha T ventured into the booth and recorded a new banger over Jai Paul‘s electric joint “BTSTU”, rhyming over the same beat as Drake‘s “Dreams Money Can Buy”. The Clipse rapper argues that no shots were fired on, but it’s pretty obvious that Push has more than a mouthful to share with the world. Perhaps the GOOD Music/Def Jam vs. Young Money feud is really going to heat up now? Check out the song for yourself below.

“Rappers on their sophomores, actin’ like they boss lords. / Fame such a funny thing for sure when niggas start believing all those encores. / I’m just the one to send you off, bonjour.” – Sounds like Push is going in on Drake here, especially with Drizzy’s sophomore album, Take Care, coming out next month.

Florence and the Machine enlisted the help of Toronto R&B singer The Weekndto remix their brand new single, “Shake It Out”. The remix will be available on iTunes on October 2nd along with the original track and another remix by Italian DJ Benny Benassi. You can check out the song now below.

“Shake It Out” will be included on Florence’s new album Ceremonials, set to drop on October 31 in the UK via Island. U.S. release information has yet to be announced. You can listen to the original track after the break.

Columbia University based Face of Man will be printing their 2011 self-titled album on a limited edition CD starting October 1st. Meticulously weaving a wide range of styles into their sound, the indie pop band’s new record is minimalistic but altogether an extremely catchy listen. Over layers of guitar and electronic beats, frontman Alex Silva’s autotuned falsetto is unique and rings quite brightly, reminding me of a subtle mix between fun.‘s Nate Ruess and pop artist LIGHTS. You can listen to or download one of the tracks from the album below.

Only 200 copies of the physical album will be sold, so make sure to hop on over to their Bandcamp and order.

Former Little Brother MC Phonte will be releasing his debut solo album, Charity Starts At Home, tomorrow (the 27th), which was produced by long-time friend and collaborator 9th Wonder (who is also releasing his new album, The Wonder Years, tomorrow). To make the wait a little easier to bear, Phonte has teamed up with DJ Flash to release a brand new mixtape, DJ Flash Presents The Best Of Phonte.

Here’s what Phonte had to say about the project:

“The Phonte mixtape to end all Phonte mixtapes. 70 tracks, 78 minutes, covering the past 10 years of my career all mixed and selected by DJ Flash.

For those who need a Phonte crash course, start here.

Thank you for listening. And if you’re a long time fan, thank you for re-listening,

With just under a month to go until the release of his second studio album, Drake took to his blog to unveil the album cover for Take Care. Sitting at a plush table and surrounded by gold objects and expensive-looking art, the Young Money rapper stares intently into his goblet, appearing to be deeply in thought about something.

Here’s what he had to say:

“Feels like it’s been so long. Is life moving so fast in this generation that when we desire something it begins to move in slow motion? Are we just used to getting what we want right away? Or do we require one another to feel right about all that is going on around us? Maybe our anticipation is justified by the fact that we genuinely cannot wait to share a moment again? Either way, your life and mine are scheduled to meet on October 24…I wouldn’t miss it for the world.

Given the nature of LA rap collective Odd Future, I was extremely surprised to see a press release titled “ODD FUTURE RECORDS announces inaugural signing!” pop up in my email inbox earlier today. Here’s what it said:

Odd Future Records is extremely excited to announce our first official signing, Young Ni**a. While our original intent was not to sign anyone to the label we simply could not pass up the opportunity to sign somebody this talented. Young Ni**a embodies the DIY ethic and persona of Odd Future along with a commercial appeal that transcends demographics. We will be premiering his first single today at 3pm PST on www.oddfuture.com”

Really? A new member by the name of Young Nigga? On Odd Future Records?

So when “Come Threw Looking Clean” finally made its appearance on Odd Future’s tumblr page, I wasn’t extremely surprised to find out the entire thing was a joke, with the “new member” actually being de-facto leader Tyler, the Creator in a beanie. Nicely played, Tyler. You can check out the song for yourself at the group’s official website here.

It’s not the full-fledged follow up to Rolling Papers, but yesterday we got a brand new free mixtape from Odd Future‘s stoner-rap specialist Domo Genesis. His latest project, Under The Influence, is a fourteen track mixtape featuring Domo rapping over some of his favorite industry beats, including Kanye West‘s “We Major”. The whole affair sounds quite out of place in the rest of the OF catalog, firmly cementing Domo’s place as the explosive collective’s most laid back member.

Odd Future’s de-facto leader Tyler, the Creator makes an appearance as Ace on “Whole City Behind Us”. While Under The Influence, isn’t quite as polished as Tyler’s Bastard mixtape or Earl Sweatshirt‘s EARL, it’s still a great piece of work. You can download the entire mixtape below. A few choice cuts are also included below as previews.

It isn’t much, but we now have a black-and-white video accompaniment to The Dangerous Summer‘s lead single “Work In Progress”. One of my personal favorites from the album, “Work In Progress” is the band’s heaviest song to date and relies heavily on the emotional weight and power that AJ Perdomo’s voice carries. The video is really quite simple, featuring close-up shots of the band performing the song over a white backdrop.

Last week’s MiaoMix was full of electro party songs, so this time I made a more chill mix to listen to. This week, I put together a post-rock playlist. For people who are not familiar with the genre, post-rock is similar to rock but it ignores the typical song structure that rock music has. Most post-rock songs rely on quiet arpeggios and simple chord progressions which build up to powerful crescendos. Most songs are also instrumental, so this music is great for studying. Listen to the playlist below. (Some songs are really long. Sorry.)

To celebrate their 20th anniversary, Scottish label Soma Records will be putting out a compilation CD, which includes an unreleased gem from Daft Punk, dating all the way back to 1994. The label put out a preview of the thumping, electro banger on their Soundcloud page a few hours ago, which you can listen to below.